Oil Sands Truth: Shut Down the Tar Sands

Labour / Migration

It is falsely assumed that big projects equal lots of jobs and, by extension, labour peace if not outright satisfaction. The size and scope of the tarsands means for incredibly dangerous work conditions-- some fatalities at the plants have already occurred. The products seldom get their "value added" in union-run locations, instead the heavy bitumen can be shipped to many different locations across North America for refining, denying benefits to the union. However, the Union does not represent the "guest worker", now being imported in increasing numbers as legislation is changed to make access easier, the term of exploitation last longer, without any new efforts or pathways to deciding to stay after helping tear up the earth.

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Working Full-Time: The work camps of Fort McMurray

October 17, 2007

Working Full-Time
The work camps of Fort McMurray

by Lindsay Bird

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Two mechanics from site picked me up at the Fort McMurray Greyhound station at 2pm. I had spent the uncomfortable six-hour bus ride from Edmonton beside a large, sweating man from Bathurst, New Brunswick, who worked at the same site to which I was travelling. When this connection was discovered, he excitedly phoned his sons, also on-site, to tell them 'a girl was coming.' My introduction to the alternate society of work camps had begun.

Gil McGowan: A Union Vision For The Future Oilpatch

Gil McGowan: A Union Vision For The Future Oilpatch
By Mike Byfield
[from: Dob Magazine: "on online source for the oil and gas industry"

Passing Out in Upgrader Alley

October 20, 2007

Passing Out in Upgrader Alley
In Alberta's "Industrial Heartland," massive developments rival those of the Athabasca tar sands region

by Lori Theresa Waller

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

Shell’s upgrader in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. [creative commons] Photo: Matthew Dance

Two Separate Demos on Tar Sands Royalties

Two Rallies On Oil Royalties
Oct, 17 2007 - 10:20 AM

CALGARY/AM770CHQR - With just days to go until the premier announces his decision on whether to hike oil and gas royalties in Alberta, two rallies are being held with two very different messages.
Quattro Energy Services is urging any and all grassroots oilworkers to come to the steps of the Legislature at 11 a.m. Wednesday for a rally against royalty increases.
Quattro President Derrick Jacobson warns this province shouldn't bite the hand that feeds it.

Fort MacKay/Boucher government working with ATCO on Lodge

ATCO Frontec and Fort MacKay First Nation to Build 500 Room Oilsands Lodge

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Oct. 17, 2007) - ATCO Frontec and the Fort MacKay First Nation have entered into a partnership to build and operate a critically needed new 500-room lodge in the booming Alberta oilsands region north of Fort McMurray.

Phase one of the Creeburn Lake Lodge will open February 2008, offering important new accommodations for oilsands workers and an array of career opportunities for members of the Fort MacKay First Nation.

Massive Fire @ Suncor

Alberta oil sands fire forces mass evacuation of facility
By: Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News
October 15, 2007

FORT MCMURRAY (Canadian OH&S News) -- More than a thousand workers from an Alberta-based energy company were sent home following an early morning oil sands fire at a facility 25 kilometres north of Fort McMurray earlier this month.

Canada needs word of common purpose

Canada needs word of common purpose
Oct 16, 2007 04:30 AM
James Travers

OTTAWA - Imagine a throne speech that sets Canada's direction instead of putting it on course for an election. Imagine, too, a prime minister boldly beginning a frank discussion on the challenges clouding a bright future.

How much would that change the words Governor General Michaëlle Jean speaks tonight for Stephen Harper? Dramatically.

An oil & gas Shangri-la in the Arctic?

Published on 10 Oct 2007 by ASPO-USA / Energy Bulletin. Archived on 10 Oct 2007.
An oil & gas Shangri-la in the Arctic?

by Dave Cohen

Scientists say the Arctic contains 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Why not 100%?
— Stephen Colbert, from the Colbert Report

A Tale of Two Cities: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Fort McMurray

To the Tar Sands

The Bad
Fort Muck: place of sex, drugs, violence, homelessness, massive trucks, polluted air and contaminated water. This is what we were told we would find at the end of deadly Highway 63, or in our case Secondary Highway 881. The city of 70 000 has been growing at a most alarming rate. In response, city council has gone so far as to call for a moratorium on new developments. The municipality simply can not keep up with endless stream of new arrivals and the associated demand for services.

"Review" of CNRL's Temporary Foreign Worker Deaths

Alberta Justice officials review oil sands deaths

FORT MCMURRAY, ALTA.

An on-site investigation into the deaths of two temporary Chinese workers at a northern Alberta oil sands tank construction site has been completed but findings have not been released.

The two men died last April when a massive tank collapsed at the multibillion-dollar Horizon oil sands project, killing the two temporary Chinese workers and injuring four more.

It will be up to Alberta Justice officials to determine whether charges should be laid against the company.

Canadian Press